After emailing Mrs. Staton she informed me of her class and other details regarding the course. There are eight students in this class and they “each bring something unique to the class”. Given that I am in a group of three and the class is so small, I believe that there is room for success because the student to teacher and cadet help ratio is 2:1. I expect this class to be ran together as a whole because of how small it is.
This class is dedicated to a plastic collection project developed by Eco Eagle Council Students. This sounds like a club because it is a small council of students that most likely came together to tackle this project of plastic collection. Since these are 6th and 7th grade students I believe that Mrs. Staton will be facilitating the tasks and the overall progress of this project because of the age group. However, I expect the students being the ones developing strategies, ideas, and plans for this project. I feel like there is also room for gaps in this group, because of the size and age. There will be eight different ideas thrown out into the group and this could provide them with a chance to demonstrate some skills that come from major of English. They could have the opportunity to defend their ideas or present their ideas to be more appealing by using rhetoric. I would love to observe the use of rhetoric with this age group of children just to analyze their claims and reasons for why the group should choose their idea to run with.
Like Loretta Brady and Ron Berger in Journeys through our Classrooms I hope I get the chance to help these kids in any way I can. Mrs. Staton’s expectations for my group with the kids is to “have [us] be a role model for them.”
I enjoyed reading about your expectations for the class. Having such a small class will be fun for you and I can’t wait to look at your findings throughout the semester!
Cole,
I really appreciate you imagining the context for your experience on the first visit, particularly how these students might be interacting and contributing to their Eagle Council, as well as inviting you into the fold. Was there anything in particular in your reading of teacher narratives in two “Journeys” articles, or in the Chapters in Project-based teaching that gave you a foothold for where you might focus your attention to this group?
As you move forward with this classroom relationship, see if you can begin to develop a few focal points/principles from either the PBL Gold Standard circle, or 10 EL principles that you want to explore, which will then help you prepare to write a philosophical statement for your own partner inquiry at term’s close. As I said to someone else, there is no perfect equation for a teaching plan, and more often than not, you are moving with a tide. Still, you can decide what kind of boat you want to take out on the water, whatever the weather.
MAJ Hodde